Higgins rescinds state of emergency in NF

Aug 04, 2021

Citing a “significant decrease in new cases of COVID19 across the province, the successful vaccination rollout and only 3 cases in the township since the onset of the pandemic,” North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins lifted the township’s COVID19 emergency declaration effect Tuesday morning (August 3)

“Lifting the Emergency Declaration does not mean we are letting our guard down,” he added, “our pandemic response protocols remain firmly in place and we will continue to meet with Public Health on a bi-weekly basis. If circumstances change, we will continue to take appropriate actions as we focus on a safe, successful reopening and getting back to normal.”

In a phone interview with the Frontenac News, Higgins said that rescinding the declaration will have little impact on the ground as all of the rules and protocols are set provincially and KFL&A Public Health.

“In my opinion for municipalities such as North Frontenac to keep a state of emergency in place for over a year, cheapens the impact of a state of emergency in the future,” he said. “I am, however, very proud of how our community faced this pandemic and pulled together to make North Frontenac one of the best municipalities in relation to number of cases. I want to also thank Council for their unwavering support over the last year. I want to express my appreciation to our staff who had to put up with some challenging issues to keep our community running smoothly. Finally, I want to thank our Emergency Control Group (ECG) who met every week in the beginning, addressed challenging communications from governments and Public Health and ever-changing protocols, guidelines and regulations through the last 15 months.”.